Australia

The Torres Strait contains at least 250 islands in the narrow strait between Australian and Papua New Guinea, with Thursday Island (affectionately known as ‘TI’) being the administrative centre with a population of 3500.

Apart from fishing, diving, pearling, drinking beer and maybe playing the occasional game of beach cricket or football, there really isn’t much else to do – which is exactly the way some people like it.

Tourism is a growing industry in the Torres Strait and there are regular flights from Cairns. A weekly boat runs to the islands.

Torres Strait Islanders occupy a unique position in the Australian demographic: they wished to remain Australian when Papua New Guinea gained its independence from Australia in 1975 but have a distinct culture. There are two indigenous languages spoken on the islands (English is the official language)

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